After visiting the 9/11 Memorial, we sat around and thought about what we wanted to do next. Our AirBnb host had recommended walking the Brooklyn Bridge then eating dinner at the famous Grimaldi’s Pizza. We decided that sounded like an excellent idea as it was actually really warm outside, so we didn’t want to spend the finally nice weather inside at a museum. The Brooklyn Bridge is one of the most iconic images of New York City which has been there since 1883 making it one of the oldest bridges of its type in the United States. It spans the East River connecting lower Manhattan to Brooklyn offering up amazing skyline views on both sides.

We were a little naïve in what walking the Brooklyn Bridge actually consists of however. Apparently it’s the thing to do in NYC, yea none of us knew that. It was packed with fellow camera toting tourists all trying to take pictures and trying to find an open area without hundreds of other people in the way. It wasn’t exactly the most pleasant activity we did in New York (due to the massive hordes of people), but I am glad to say that I have officially walked the Brooklyn Bridge. And in the end we were able to snap a few pictures sans people.

After getting off the ferry, we were craving some ice cream. Too bad we found the adorable pink ice cream truck which didn’t have prices listed on the side. I should have asked before ordering, I can’t believe I didn’t, but when he handed me my ice cream and said that’ll be $8, I almost threw it in his face. Yikes! $8 for a soft serve ice cream cone. Needless to say, I was the only one who ended up getting ice cream.

On a good note though, the Bowling Green park was right there and it was a charming place to sit down and savor my not amazing $8 ice cream cone. And not to mention the fact, that it is the oldest public park in New York City! It dates back to 1733 and includes the original 18th century fence. I didn’t actually know all of that sitting there, but I wanted to mention that there was a museum next to the park but I couldn’t remember the name of it so when Google-ing that, I came upon the fun facts of the park.

Due to the worst wifi connection ever yesterday night, here’s yesterday’s and today’s Photo of the Day. Yesterday brought us along the south coast stopping at all the major waterfalls along the way, my favorite being Skogafoss.

Today brought us to our final stop in the capital Reykjavik, but first stopping at Thingvellir National Park.

Iceland was originally one of those places that my husband kept mentioning he wanted to go to eventually, and I would just nod my head and say okay but never really gave it much consideration. Until… I got an email about a year and a half ago from Tripadvisor on Top 10 Most Unique Beaches (or something to that effect) and they included a picture of the black sand beach by Jökulsárlón. All of a sudden Iceland skyrocketed in my list of places to visit. I then entertained myself for hours shortly after Googling Iceland itineraries and travel blogs and pictures, and needless to say I was hooked on the country and was obsessed with getting there ASAP.

I knew that I wanted my first visit to Iceland to be in the summer though of course that’s when everyone else wants to go as well. I would like (I think) to visit again in the winter sometime to see the Northern Lights, but I wanted to do a full out road trip around the country the first visit. I’ve read countless times in guide books and Tripadvisor that you can’t do a Ring Road road trip in a week, that you need at least 10-14 days to really see the country. And while I no doubt believe that would be better, we only have a week of vacation to take at this point so we are going to cram as much in as we can.

Needless to say after all the walking the previous day and the into the wee hours of the morning girl talk, we didn’t have quite as early start on Sunday. Before coming we had all agreed we didn’t need to visit the Statue of Liberty. I had been when I visited New York when I was thirteen with my parents and while I enjoyed it at the time and think going once is a good experience, I didn’t feel the need to go again. My two friends also concurred that there were other things they would rather see and do on their first trips to New York City than spend the time and money going to Liberty Island. Lo and behold, our AirBnb host when we checked in recommended the free ferry to Staten Island that leaves every 30 minutes from lower Manhattan. He said you can’t beat the views of the skyline and the Statue of Liberty. We were sold on the free part. So that was what our first sight/activity planned for Sunday.